Ea' A' 'oe's*Heir 2 has been working at the Old Mill Restaurant in Strasburg for over a year now, working his way from dishwasher to a sort of pantry cook. When he first started, his Sunday "Care Packages" were a real important component in getting us through the week, food-wise, and he's picked up some tips and recipes I've incorporated into my own repertoire.
I offered him an array of choices for what he wants to serve to the family after his graduation. For Heir 1's party I put out all kinds of food, not realizing that the ceremony didn't even start until 7:30 p.m., meaning it was after 9 o'clock by the time we ate. By that time, no one was interested in eating a full meal. So this time around it will be, basically, dessert and coffee (or whatever).
An iced cake is the obvious choice here, which I was happy to bake since professionally decorated cakes often sacrifice taste in favor of appearance. We all like ice cream cakes, which is what I got for Heir 1's party and the leftovers haunted me for weeks after (every time I walked by the freezer it would be in there calling my name).
Anyway, Heir 2's favorite cake is angel food and he wanted it topped with a strawberry compote he learned to prepare at The Mill.
Well, naturally we had to try it out first before serving it to guests and I certainly wanted to make sure that my angel food cake skills were up to churning out three of them for the party (if you are about to suggest I use or eat anything involving powdered egg whites and imitation vanilla -- such a a store-bought cake or mix -- don't. Have you tasted those things? Ugh!).
The most compelling feature of this compote recipe, for the Heirs at least, is the fact that it uses (luscious) peach schnapps, which seems to delight them no end. The taste is very subtle, though; very smooth.
Joe and Caisee*Song from A Mighty Wind
**Do you get that I find the brand name comical?
8 comments:
Looks delicious! And I, too, love that the brand name is "luscious"...
I think you're losing your luscious friggin' mind over there.
Because of the spousal unit's job, we get invited to a lot of graduation parties. This year most parents are doubling (and tripling and quadrupling) up on the parties; in fact one of the ones we're to attend is actually for six kids.
I just want to see if my picture shows up here.
Meg: Actually, the cake could have been less sweet, what with all that teeth-aching "lusciousness," but that's easy enough to fix.
DG: just slowly shaking my head.*
Shay: Yeah, I guess you do. Actually, not many families give parties and the ones who do give it just for their child's friends (no adults). So this will be a little reception for family that took the trouble to come so far and a sort of open house for Heir 2's friends who won't be having parties.
Sid: just slowly shaking my head. Again.*
*Shaking my head is what I constantly do in response to my brothers.
BTW, that's not Sid's (John Boy's) picture. I only say that because I'm only 4 year younger than he is and I don't want anyone thinking I'm that old.
Sid: Certainly you can find a crankier looking old guy...
Damn!! I forgot to put the Luscious Peach Schnapps on the grocery list today. :-(
Everything here looks luscious!
And now I am enjoying this first hand (almost). Luscious Peach Schnapps, check. Strawberries and Angel food cake, check (store bought though...but still it beats those shortcake thingies that taste like cheap twinkies). And I'm eating it out of a Cool Whip container. :-) (I mixed the Cool Whip with vanilla pudding and put a big dollop of that on top of the strawberries, then poured a sip of the schnapps to drink alongside). I think I'm in Heaven. :-)
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